First Thursday of Advent – Is 26:1-6; Matthew 7:21,24-27
We’d always pick a spot close to the shore, where the sand was dense with seawater and held its shape. Ideas were never in short supply. Soon there’d be towers, walls and winding stairways. The grand finale was always the same: a deep trench, the water rushing in, the walls giving way, and our masterpiece collapsing. Then we’d leave it to the sea.
Next morning we’d run back to see what was left. Sometimes there was a sad little mound. Sometimes, after a high tide, we could only guess where it had stood. Was that our first lesson in how fragile life is? Or just our first hint that you can’t build badly and then blame the tools?
Truth is, adults aren’t so different. The toys change, the stakes feel bigger, but the sand is still sand.
Advent pulls me up short. Keep watch, says the Lord. Not because life’s a game to win, but because it’s time to build on rock, not sand. Time to stop pretending the tide won’t come in. Time to live – really live – in the light of the One who is coming.
So, I’m watching now: less chasing, more listening; less grasping, more giving. If the sea takes what I’ve made, let it. My hope isn’t in castles by the shore, but in Christ, the solid ground. Come, Lord Jesus.